American healthcare

[Chuck Naill]

I paid $120 for a washer service call. I figure both of you have the same experience time
In.

[Richardtractorguy]

Fair enough. How much do you think my overhead/year should cost?

[Chuck Naill]

I was kidding.

I’m on your side tractor guy. People ignorantly disparage medical and pharmaceutical businesses.

[Bold2013]

How much should I get paid to do a carpal tunnel surgery Chip?

Enough to pay for the OR, equipment, room staff, a decade or more of training/education, cover the insurance, cover the money loss from other medicare/Medicaid procedures, taxes and then the surgeon can get the left over scraps.

[Chuck Naill]

How much should I get paid to do a carpal tunnel surgery Chip?

Enough to pay for the OR, equipment, room staff, a decade or more of training/education, cover the insurance, cover the money loss from other medicare/Medicaid procedures, taxes and then the surgeon can get the left over scraps.

Are you an orthpedic surgeon?

[Bold2013]

No.

Wife made me promise three things before we got married, one was I couldn’t be a surgeon.

[Chuck Naill]

Good choice as it's a tough residency.

[Richardtractorguy]

Aahhh residency. Working 7 days/week with only 2 weeks off/year. I made $24K as a first year resident. LOL I liked it so much that I now teach it. 15 residents and 1 hand Fellow.

[Bold2013]

I appreciate orthopods

[Chuck Naill]

Aahhh residency. Working 7 days/week with only 2 weeks off/year. I made $24K as a first year resident. LOL I liked it so much that I now teach it. 15 residents and 1 hand Fellow.

And you might make four years and be dropped, or that's what the residents used to tell me.

[Mık Joger]

It is interesting to read what changes are taking place in the healthcare system. I recently stumbled upon an Instagram page about what is calmerry and was surprised at how popular psychological therapy has become. This only says that the changes that are taking place around us lead to the development of stress, up to deep depression.

[Chip]

Over the last few months, I've read articles on how virtually every segment (insurers, private hospitals, nonprofit hospitals, doctors, et al.) of the US healthcare system has documented cases of overcharging, double-billing, charging poor patients for care that should be free, and outright fraud.

‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions

By next year, half of Medicare beneficiaries will have a private Medicare Advantage plan. Most large insurers in the program have been accused in court of fraud.

By Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz
Oct. 8, 2022

The health system Kaiser Permanente called doctors in during lunch and after work and urged them to add additional illnesses to the medical records of patients they hadn’t seen in weeks. Doctors who found enough new diagnoses could earn bottles of Champagne, or a bonus in their paycheck.

Anthem, a large insurer now called Elevance Health, paid more to doctors who said their patients were sicker. And executives at UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest insurer, told their workers to mine old medical records for more illnesses — and when they couldn’t find enough, sent them back to try again.

Each of the strategies — which were described by the Justice Department in lawsuits against the companies — led to diagnoses of serious diseases that might have never existed. But the diagnoses had a lucrative side effect: They let the insurers collect more money from the federal government’s Medicare Advantage program.

Medicare Advantage, a private-sector alternative to traditional Medicare, was designed by Congress two decades ago to encourage health insurers to find innovative ways to provide better care at lower cost. If trends hold, by next year, more than half of Medicare recipients will be in a private plan. Soon, Half of Medicare Will be Privatized. Medicare Advantage is on track to enroll most Medicare beneficiaries by next year.

But a New York Times review of dozens of fraud lawsuits, inspector general audits and investigations by watchdogs shows how major health insurers exploited the program to inflate their profits by billions of dollars.



The government pays Medicare Advantage insurers a set amount for each person who enrolls, with higher rates for sicker patients. And the insurers, among the largest and most prosperous American companies, have developed elaborate systems to make their patients appear as sick as possible, often without providing additional treatment, according to the lawsuits.

As a result, a program devised to help lower health care spending has instead become substantially more costly than the traditional government program it was meant to improve.

Eight of the 10 biggest Medicare Advantage insurers — representing more than two-thirds of the market — have submitted inflated bills, according to the federal audits. And four of the five largest players — UnitedHealth, Humana, Elevance and Kaiser — have faced federal lawsuits alleging that efforts to overdiagnose their customers crossed the line into fraud.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/u...legations.html

[Chuck Naill]

Of those mentioned, Human, United Healthcare, and Ciga were so bad that our agency refused their patients for home health. The best Medicare provider was and probably still is, "Traditional Medicare. Since all hospice reverts to Traditional Medicare, those HMO providers were not a part of the equation for doing what was best for the patients and families.

[Herry]

Mental Health Counseling plays a crucial role in today's fast-paced world, where stress and anxiety are prevalent. Through mental health counseling compassionate listening and evidence-based techniques, counselors empower individuals to navigate life's challenges with resilience and confidence.

[dneal]

Mental Health Counseling plays a crucial role in today's fast-paced world, where stress and anxiety are prevalent. Through mental health counseling compassionate listening and evidence-based techniques, counselors empower individuals to navigate life's challenges with resilience and confidence.

Ironically, David spams a link he could benefit from.

It's like the oxygen masks on an airplane, David. Put yours on first. Seek help.

[welch]

Sorry that I missed what began as an interesting discussion.